Teaching
History and National Development in the Third World: The Nigerian Experience

Olusoji Samuel Oyeranmi
University of Ibadan, Nigeria

"If we could first know where
we are, and whither we are tending, we could better judge what to do and
how to do it. "2

Abraham Lincoln

INTRODUCTION

History
has been recognized all over the world as a source of enlightenment and
development. As a collective memory of the past of a nation, history attempts
to bring to the fore the salient and significant part of events that occurred
in the past, which could be utilized in building a prosperous national
future. This is why every human society, no matter the level of advancement,
has placed optimum priority to the bequeathing of a "useable past" from
generation to generation. For instance, in ancient cultures every kingdom
had its own history laureate whose task it was to remember the past. "3
Modernity has also been influenced greatly by the enhanced production
of history. This is assisting nations (who have placed the needed emphasis
on historical studies) in their tasks of nation building, promoting national
consciousness, the flowering of moral leadership and ensuring overall
national development. "4

From
the above brief allusion, one can submit that history is an essential
instrument for any nation that is desirous of breakthroughs in all human
endeavors. Consequently, it has become a serious academic discipline,
which attracts the most talented in most developed countries. "5
This is why it is most pathetic that the study of history has been relegated
to the background in various schools in Nigeria. This explains why the
country remains a crawling giant. More than ever before, ethnic chauvinism
has become the major driving force of Nigeria's national polity. Nigerians
many times (albeit, with good reasons) have not only queried the basis
for nationhood, but also doubted her permanent survival. Indeed, after
more than forty-five years of so-called independence, the Nigerian Union,
according to Professor Adebayo Adedeji, remains largely "a co-habitation
without marriage. "6

I
would argue that a major reason why so much violence (physical and psychological),
aggression, hatred, poverty, et cetera, dominate the day to day existence
of the people in Nigeria is that, collectively, they lack historical consciousness.
They tend, indeed, to act or react based on the present situation and
care little about the past. It is therefore not surprising that few care
about the kind of future to be built for both the people and the nation.
Due to the fact that Nigerian statesmen lack a proper sense of history,
the politics of the belly and that of the moment dominate the polity.
Merit is consequently slaughtered on the slab of power profiteering. With
all these vices, development at all levels in Nigeria remains a wild goose
chase.

To
escape from this seemingly inescapable quagmire, there is an urgent need
to imbue Nigerians with an enduring sense of history. As Professor J.
F. A. Ajayi once submitted:

The nation suffers which
has no sense of history. Its values remain superficial and ephemeral
unless imbued with a deep sense of continuity and perception of success
and achievement that transcends acquisition of temporary power or transient
wealth. Such a nation cannot achieve a sense of purpose or direction
or stability and without them the future is bleak "7

It is in the light of this
that a study of this nature becomes absolutely imperative as part of the
ongoing efforts towards the historical awakening of Nigerians. This essay
will, inter-alia, focus on the unbreakable nexus between history
and national development; bring out the relevance of this link especially
at this era of globalization; analyze what a country like Nigeria in search
of her soul and awesome technological breakthrough could gain from such
an "unattractive" and non-materialistic" discipline such as history; and
lastly, will suggest how Nigerians could be imbued with an enduring and
proper sense of history for national development.

HISTORY AND NATIONAL
DEVELOPMENT

Arguably, Development at all
levels (personal or national) in human society is a multi-faceted process.
At the level of the individual, it implies multiplied skill and capacity,
greater freedom, creativity, self-discipline, responsibility and material
well-being. It must however be noted that the achievement of any aspect
of personal development is strong tied to the state of the society as
a whole. "8At the national level, development will naturally
mean the pulling together of the above-stated personal virtues for the
benefit and well-being of people within such a nation. More often than
not, as Walter Rodney once contended, development is used in an exclusive
economic sense ­ the justification being that the type of economy is itself
an index of other social features. A society develops economically as
its members increase jointly their capacity for dealing with the environment,
which of course depends on the extent to which they understand laws of
nature (science), on the extent to which they put that understanding into
practice by devising tools (technology), and on the manner in which work
is organized. "9

I
therefore contend that for any nation to develop, the collective spirit
of the people must be well nurtured and propagated. Here lies the significance
of history. History, in the words Prof. Babatunde Fafunwa is:

To a people what memory
is to the individual. A people with no knowledge of their past would
suffer from collective amnesia, groping blindly into the future without
the guide post of precedence to shape their course "10

Also writing on the intimating
interaction between Nation and History, J. F. Ade Ajayi stressed that:

… History interacts with
the nation. For the nation is a product of history in the sense of historical
circumstances and events; and therefore the nation cannot escape from
its past. At the same time, the nation is shaped by the effort of historians,
among others, who try to establish the history of the nation, influence
its group memory and seek to define its nationality-that is, the essence
of what binds its people together, what constitutes their identity,
what makes them a people distinct from other peoples. "11

Indeed, what historical understanding
does essentially for any nation is to place its developmental predicament
within rational time perspectives of human evolution. This is the utility
value of history. History also helps people not to undervalue what they
are and overvalue what they are not. It in turn provides confidence ­
building strategy to any prostrate nation that is striving to grapple
with present problems. "12

Development
should and must not only be conceived materially. This is because humans
are not solely materialistic in nature; they are equally spiritual, artistic
and creative beings. Development ipso facto is to my mind twofold.
Firstly, it entails concerted efforts at satisfying basic/crucial human
needs such as food, shelter and general well being through productivity.
Secondly it equips citizens with enduring moral values such as, hard work,
honesty, integrity, transparency, justice, and discipline. Indeed, the
two are inseparable as a nation full of impoverished people cannot improve
its material base and neither can a morally decadent society dream of
dazzling development at any level.

A
number of erudite scholars have written on the universal/ developmental
nature of history, so I will not bore you with repetition of their views. "13
But for the purposes of this essay I will allude to two arguments. First
is Socrates' judgment on Pericles- the Famous Athenian statesman. He stated:

The brilliant statesman
had enriched and embellished the city, had created protective walls
around it, had built ports and dock yards, had launched navies, had
eternalized the glory of the city by temples of undying grandeur and
beauty, had multiplied in Attica the feasts of arts and reason, but
did not occupy himself with the problem of how to make Athenians better
men and women. As a result, his work has remained incomplete and his
creation caduceus "14

To advocate that studies
in the sciences and technology should be pursued to the relative neglect
[humiliation] of the humanities and social sciences is to express appetite
for the materialism which technology creates rapidly, but without required
for the organic growth and stability. Every one of us including the
scientist and technologist has to be a citizen. Without the socializing
influence of training in the humanities (especially history), the aggregation
that we represent as citizens cannot be properly called a nation. A
nation that lacks clear self-identity and which is structurally incoherent
cannot be strong whatever its wealth and the amount of gadgetry at its
disposal. "15

The developmental
nature of the historical discipline is further emphasized by the fact
that every discipline has its root in history. This makes it virtually
impossible for any discipline not to pay attention to its history. Thus,
we have the history of science, of medicine, of banking, of engineering,
of knowledge, of development, and even the history of history. For example,
no rational medical doctor will attend to his or her patient without perusing
his or her medical history. For it is within that context that the doctor
will appreciate better the patient's ailment and what medication to prescribe.
History, therefore, is a key factor in all disciplines and in the training
of minds. Similarly, it is a duty for any nation that is desirous of development
in all its ramifications to always delve into its past achievements as
well as those of other lands. With this the nation will be able to learn
from the past errors, to draw inspiration from worthy past efforts, and
to strategize for the future development.

All
I have said is not to deny the importance of the acquisition of scientific
skills and knowledge. The point of emphasis here is that those skills
should be accompanied by appropriate moral values without which the society
will return to the Hobbessian state of nature of battle of all against
all. History tends to produce thinking men and women who are imbued with
curiosity, who will not accept any view hook, line and sinker, who through
questioning and reasoning will be able to come to their own conclusion,
who have become full of knowledge, and who by that means would be able
to contribute to the development of their society. This is the outstanding
link between history and national development. But in tangible terms what
could any nation in serious search for physical and psychological development
(Nigeria for instance) gain from this powerful link? This shall be the
next focus of this historical discourse.

WHAT COULD NIGERIA
GAIN FROM HISTORY

History teaches us that the
most fundamental obstacle to national development in Africa is the apparent
absence of national integration. And the erosion of NATIONAL CONSCIOUSNESS
occasions this. As I have lamented elsewhere, "it is quite disturbing
to note that in Africa today, there is no country that is not prone to
chaos and anarchy due to so many existing fissiparous tendencies."16
And Nigeria is no exception. With this, politics has permanently become
public pains for private gains in Nigeria, as in most parts of Africa.
The very few elite constantly exploit the seeming eternal divisions among
Nigerians which cut across religion, tribe, sex and politics in their
struggle for personal /egoistic socio-economic and political advantages.

In
Nigeria as in other Third World Countries, national consciousness, instead
of being the all-embracing crystallization of the innermost hopes of the
whole people, instead of being the immediate and most obvious result of
the mobilization of the people, has only become an empty shell, and frequently
'the nation' is passed over for race and tribe. "17With all
these calamitous cracks in the Nigerian edifice, which of course came
into being through the concerted and calculated efforts of the British
imperialists and was kept alive by the failure of the national leadership
to uproot colonial legacies and initiate enduring developmental strategies,
the present retrogressive national effort towards national development
becomes discernible. According to Frantz Fanon:

This
traditional weakness, which is almost congenital to the national consciousness
of under-developed countries, is not solely the result of the mutilation
of the colonized people by the colonial regime. It is also the result
of the intellectual laziness of the national middle class, of its spiritual
penury… "18

With
the above, national development also requires the transformation of people's
minds, lives, and environment in such a way that will increase national
consciousness. In the case of Nigeria, national development includes things
as:

Increasing
the degree of national consciousness of Nigerians, increasing the degree
of acceptance by Nigerians of the central government as the symbol of
national unity, increasing the degree of tolerance of one another by Nigerians,
increasing the quantity and quality of things that make for good life
in the socio-economic sectors. "19

Unfortunately,
most of these virtues are either non-existent or their existence is fraught
with fraud. Consequently, the influence of ethnic consciousness is still
profound on Nigerian politics. Many sincere advocates are still clamoring
for a genuine national conference or, better still, a conference for all
Nigerian nationalities where people would jaw-jaw on the modalities for
national cohesion ­ the surest initiation towards NATIONAL DEVELOPMENT.
This no doubt has necessitated a new appraisal of the Nigerian nation.

As
it stands today, the Nigerian nation is not yet born. And to my mind it
is roundly deceptive to claim (as we do today) to be nationalistic where
a nation does not exist. A number of studies on whether Nigeria is a nation
or not have been written. "20 But I contend that the historical
reality is that the so-called Nigerian nationhood was founded on absolute
fraud. Even some of the British colonialists could not hold back the truth
about the defects of the Lugardian amalgamation of 1914 that formally
inaugurated a nation that was bound to fail. For example, Nicholson, a
former colonial Administrator in Nigeria once declared that the most significant
thing about the amalgamation was that it never took place. Thus, until
Richards's constitution in 1947 (33 years after Amalgamation), the Northern
and Southern representatives were not brought together in one legislative
chamber. Therefore, the people in the two protectorates remained strangers
to one another though co-habiting the same country!

Most
importantly, the reality today is that ethnic nationalism often intrudes
rudely into 21st century Nigerian politics. This is why, like
most new nations, the most challenging issue facing Nigeria today is the
establishment of institutional arrangements that can effectively deal
with ethnic diversity and allow population groups to co-exist peacefully
and productively. With the incessant chaos, disharmony and disunity, the
aspiration of the people to evolve into viable nation will remain an effort
in futility. The Nigerian situation is almost hopeless, as a recently
released United States intelligence report "21 (though bluntly
attacked) suggested. The situation is however still amenable if both the
leadership and the people can return to the basics, delve deeply into
the Nigerian past, draw necessary lessons and take appropriate popular
actions.

Every
generation must, out of relative obscurity, discover its mission and fulfill
or betray it. And the surest way to fulfill Nigeria's developmental mission
is for new leadership to break new ground. The foremost action will ultimately
mean to extirpate the imperial legacies of political servitude and economic
dependency on the mother country (Britain) and other western nations.
History has shown that those African leaders (referred to by Fanon as
the national bourgeoisie or national middle class) who took over power
from the former colonial regimes did not replace those colonial legacies
but rather built solidly on them. They conveniently (due largely to their
intellectual and spiritual penury) stepped into the shoes of the former
European settlers as doctors, barristers, traders, commercial travelers,
general agents, and transport agents. They further insisted that all the
big foreign companies should pass through their hands. Hence, "the national
middle class discovers its historic missions: that of intermediary. "22
Linking this past inglorious act of the African national leadership to
the present predicament Fanon stated further:

Seen through its (national
middle class) its mission has nothing to do with transforming the nation.
It remains the transmitting line between the nation and the mother camouflaged,
which today puts on the masque of Neo colonialism. "23

Before a country can evolve
into a nation, defined by Prof. Wole Soyinka as "a unit of humanity with
common ideology," it must be ready to shed its entire colonial burden
and supplant all its super structures such as law, economy, social structures,
and politics with well self-developed structures. It must also develop
the brains of its inhabitants by imbuing in them necessary skills and
an enduring sense of history, which will establish long-lasting national
consciousness. As I have alluded earlier: the living expression of the
nation is the moving consciousness of the whole people; it is the coherent,
enlightened action of men and women. "24The collective building
up of destiny is the assumption of responsibility on the historical scale.
Otherwise there is anarchy, repression, and the recrudescence of ethnic
nationalism.

The
historic place of people as a unit cannot be over-emphasized in the evolution
and development of any nation. Recognizing this fact Fanon submits:

The greatest task before
us is to understand at each moment what is happening in our country.
We ought not to cultivate the exceptional or seek for a hero, who is
another form of leader. We ought to uplift the people; we must develop
their brains; fill them with ideas; change them into human being."25

All these can be realized
by giving the people a dose of political education. Indeed, this is a
compulsory pre-condition for the evolution of a viable nation. To educate
people politically means opening their minds, awakening them, and allowing
the rebirth of their intelligence. Its also entails trying relentlessly
and passionately to teach the masses that everything depends on them;
that if we stagnate it is their responsibility, and that if we develop
it is due to them too. In summary, to educate the masses politically is
to make the totality of the nation a reality to each citizen. It is to
make the history of the nation part of the personal experience of each
of it citizens."26

History
abounds with nations that evolved and developed as the full expression
of their citizens. And the commonest denominator of these nations is the
exploitation and utilization of their cultural history. As a result of
this unity of purpose, the nations then evolve as human communities which,
when the chips are down, collectively command the loyalty of the people
over the claims of lesser communities within it. As it has been established
earlier, all nations are products of their past and there is no way they
can move forward without taking into consideration their history and their
peculiar circumstances. This is the debt all nations that seek peace,
stability, and development owe to the past."27 This is because
history provides the foundation on which the development of each nation
is built. This explains why most developed countries in the world ensure
that the discipline of history does not suffer decline and continues to
retain its pride of place in their universities. More importantly, history
has always been used to provide political education for leadership elites
in such societies. Each nation then develops its own historiography, which
is essentially nationalistic."28

This
is true of British historiography as well as American historiography,
Chinese historiography, French historiography, Russian historiography,
Japanese historiography, and German historiography. American historiography,
for instance, lauds the virtues of American institutions in impregnating
Americans with the notion that to be an American is the greatest blessing
God can confer on a human being."29 This aspect of history can
be carried to an extreme, such as was done by Benito Mussolini and Adolph
Hitler before and during WWII and George Walker Bush in the demolition
of Iraq. The abuse of history is always a possibility especially during
bitter contests among nations. It must however be mentioned that leaders
not only exploit national feeling during crises but also during peace,
especially in their collective efforts towards national development. What
is clear in all this is that history is deliberately utilized for nation
building. This, I strongly believe, is the major difference between the
advanced nations and those that are still in their embryonic stage such
as Nigeria."30

IMBUING THE PEOPLE OF
NIGERIA WITH AN ENDURING SENSE OF HISTORY

The
past of the people of Nigeria, like most of their African kith and kin,
has placed an almost inescapable burden on them. This ugly past is characterized
with successive evils ­ four hundred years of slavery and slave trade;
several centuries of imperialism / colonialism; and continuing neo-colonialism.
And according to EH Carr, "the past which a historian studies is not a
dead past, but a past which in a sense is still living in the present."31
This naturally translates to the fact that for the people to solve the
present multifaceted developmental problems bedeviling the country, the
past must always be involved. This is essential because "… if men of the
future are ever to break the chains of the present, they will have to
understand the forces that forged them."32 To achieve this, the people must be well endowed
with historical knowledge which is based on recollection, retrieval, and
the reconstruction of their past. This is rooted in the fact that time
past is part of time present and time present is part of time future.
In other words, human society is one long continuum and to appreciate
the present, one must know what happened in the past.33

It
must be mentioned at this juncture that at the formative stages of modern
African countries (Nigeria inclusive), history was an important factor
in efforts towards national development. Indeed, some western commentators
described the Ibadan school of History as a nationalist reaction to people
like Trevor Roper and others who said Africa had no history. In acknowledgement
of this outstanding nationalistic role, Prof. Niyi Osundare recently opined
that:

The Ibadan School of History
re-invented African history and African Historiography and shamed the
racist notion that humanity's oldest continent was a place without a
past. University of Ibadan became the Mecca for scholars of African
History all over the world."34

This great school, together
with very negligible percentage of Western Africanists who were more objective,
began through a series of studies and writings to establish African History
as a worthy part of universal scholasticism. Their writings equally provided
early nationalists with not only a psychological power boost but also
gave them much-needed inspiration in their struggle for political independence.
Regrettably, the party did not last for long. As the Irish poet once lamented,
things have changed, and changed utterly. "35Since independence,
the Ibadan school of History, just like its parent the University of Ibadan,
has remained shadow of its old self. As a result, the school lost the
opportunity of continuing to inspire the task of nation building of Nigeria.

The
problems of African historiography, Nigerian history, and particularly
"the Ibadan school of history" have been subjected to in-depth intellectual
scrutiny for a long time. So, rather than discussing these problems again,
I will attempt to bring out new insights towards making history more relevant
in Nigeria and to suggest ways to imbue her inhabitants with sense of
national consciousness.

Recommendations and
Suggestions

While lamenting the languishing
level of the University of Ibadan, Professor Niyi Osundare submitted:

Today, our university and
the evil system that has brought it to its knees need nothing but the
sharp edge of excoriative word; nothing but the truth whose sharpness
heals like the surgical knife "36.

Nothing short of this could
rescue the visibly enfeebled discipline of history in Nigeria from imminent
extinction and equally catapult history back in to national consciousness
for overall development. To my mind, there are two angles to this issue,
namely the Historians and Government's angles. "37

In
terms of the Historians, it is necessary for history to return to its
pride of place as prime motivator of national consciousness and as the
bedrock of all humanities in Nigeria, and to do that Nigerian historians
must braze up and chart a new course for the once ennobled discipline.
One of the best ways to achieve is to stop talking and writing about the
discipline of history as if it is a human being. This personification
should give way to the returning of Nigerian people to their rightful
place as the makers of their own history. "38This is embedded in the fact
that it is humans who makes history and not vice versa, as Karl Marx once
argued:

History does nothing, it
does not possess immense riches, it does not fight battles. It is real
living men who do all this, who possess things and fight battles. It
is not "history" which uses men as means of achieving as if it were
an individual person its own ends."39

As a corollary
to reviving the historical discipline from its present doldrums, there
must be a historical reawakening which would be championed by Nigerian
historians. This must start from the minds and mouths of the Nigerian
historians through constant self-criticism, for "if we could first know
where we are and whither we are tending we could better judge what to
do, and how to do it. "40 For instance, a critical evaluation
of the history of the "Ibadan school of history" (where it all started)
which is currently enmeshed in decay reveals that the school was in the
past the pride of the Nation. Ever since, the seeds of discord that are
currently dividing Nigerian historians have been sown. Ever since, the
atrocious tradition of using history as means of achieving personal ends
and later dumping it has firmly taken root. Ever since, the idea of diverting
books, funds, scholarship / fellowship opportunities (especially international
ones) meant for the development of the department, has been on course.
Ever since, the system of exploitation of the junior colleagues, students
(especially post-graduate) by senior colleagues who are too busy and too
big to carry out research or to teach but have the time to pursue private
contracts, international fellowships, and political appointments has been
operational. Every since, the anti-intellectual idea of either fencing
out the best brains or frustrating the ones within the system to the point
of paralysis has been within the tradition. This clearly explains the
current catastrophic dwarfism in historical scholarship in Nigeria.

The
problem is not that the school has problems: the real problem is that
many people in the school are not aware of those problems and the few
who are are seeking sanctuary in hazy sloganeering. "41For this
ugly trend to change, if the future will be great once again for both
Nigerian history and historians, they must all stand up for the truth
and break the yoke of tradition. One of the best ways to avoid this complicity
is to stop being panegyricians or propagandists or mere chroniclers. Historians
need to bring out the real lessons of history to Nigerians. The basic
historical fact about Nigeria (no matter the distortions and exaltations)
is that the country is not yet a nation even after forty­five years of
the much touted political or flag lowering independence.

Consequently,
the first and the most important work for Nigerians is to collaborate
assiduously with other concerned groups on how to ensure the evolution
of the Nigerian nation state where people will live first as Nigerians
before remembering their ethnic affiliations. "42To achieve this two things
become absolutely imperative ­ ideological and cultural revolutions, as
Prof. E, A. Ayandele once admonished:

Fellow craftsmen of historical
scholarship, it is our duty to convince the governments of the Federal
Republic of Nigeria to take two steps as a matter of utmost urgency.
Firstly, they should be told that a Nigerian nation not built on upon
the cultural heritage and spiritual values of the peoples of Nigeria
is necessarily a RICKETY EDIFICE; that a "development" that is
primarily technological and economic, with the concomitant unregulated
pulverizing Westernism; inexorably inflicts cultural hemorrhage upon
the nation and constitutes a terrible homicide; that such a nation is
spiritually void, possessing no soul of its own… "43 (emphasis
mine).

This assertion,
made twenty-six years ago, is more real today than when it was rendered.
Governments must be told to revise and reverse their concept of development
to a more fundamentally human-centered concept. To achieve this end, a
new invigorated humanistic study of how a real Nigerian nation could evolve
must be initiated and the present endangered historical studies must be
the arrowhead. With this a movement towards the re-invention and rewriting
of Nigerian history will be initiated in order to build a sense of belonging
in the people.

The government's side of the sad story is quite understandable. As it
has been established earlier in this essay, the so-called early Nigerian
nationalists (as in most Third World countries) actually acted like the
scions of colonial agents ­ heirs apparent to the throne vacated by the
erstwhile colonialists. Indeed, they fought tooth and nail for the colonial
leftovers; with this, all the legacies of the colonial rule were not only
left untouched but were built upon by these short-sighted leaders. One
such legacy is the deliberate distortion and devaluation of Nigerian history
both as an academic discipline and as a tool for national development.
As a result "The apotheosis of independence is transformed into the curse
of independence. "44Thus, the colonial power—through
its immense resources and the continuous installation of their stooges
as leaders—condemns the evolving Nigerian state to permanent regression
and the development of underdevelopment.

Nigerian
unity thus descended rapidly to what Fanon called a vague formula, "45
and yet the people were passionately attached to it especially during
their struggle for political independence. No sooner than this vague freedom
was attained, this unity crumbled into regionalism inside the hollow shell
of nationality itself. Ever since, the national leadership has remained
unpardonably egoistic and outrageously irresponsive to the plight of average
citizens. With the neglect of history, the leadership simply proved to
be incapable of forging national unity or building up a truly viable Nigerian
nation within stable and productive parameters. The National Front, which
forced colonialism to withdraw, cracked up and wasted the victory it had
gained. This aggressive anxiety among the early nationalist to occupy
the posts left vacant by the departure of the foreigners have left scars
of violence on both religious and tribal lines, and further explains why
violence still constantly features in the people's day to day existence. "46

If
Nigerian leaders in the past were guilty of tinkering with history to
such an extent that transformation of the nation became impossible, the
present crop of leaders are guilty of utilizing facts of history not only
to distort Nigerian history but also to keep the country permanently a
creeping giant.

CONCLUSION

In
conclusion, one must avoid the tactical error of concluding that the inability
of people to draw serious lessons from history is peculiar to Nigeria.
In the words of Georg Hegel:

What experience and history
teach is this, that nations and governments have never learned anything
from history or acted upon any lessons they might have drawn from it. "47

Though many may disagree with
this Hegelian philosophy of life, few will disagree with the historical
fact that people do seem to have severe difficulty learning anything form
history. As regards Nigeria, which is the focus of this essay, my last
words will be in form of admonition to Nigerian historians: they must
break away from their current inhibiting factors and work in alliance
with other sincere scholars with similar ideas and intentions to dismantle
the present leadership of the country and chart a new course for the emergence
of new leadership. This task is not going to be easy but is definitely
not impossible. Failure to do so will continue to tame not only the historical
discipline but also national development.

Biographical Note: Olusoji
Oyernanmi is a doctoral candidate in History at the University of Ibadan
in Ibadan, Nigeria. He is also an associate lecture in History at Ibadan
University and at Olabisi Onabanjo University in Ago Iwoye. He teaches
and researches in the fields of African historiography, developmental
history, diplomatic history, and urban, environmental, and economic history.

Endotes

1
See G.W.F. Hegel, Lectures on the Philosophy of World History, translated
by H. B. Nisbet with an introduction by Duncan Forbes. (Cambridge: Cambridge
University Press, 1975).

2
Carl Sandburg, Abraham Lincoln; The Prairie Years and The War Years.
(New York, Dell Publishing Co.Incorporation, 1939), 13.

3
In every literate society, from the earliest times till now, there are
professional historians whose responsibility is to remember and keep
records of the most important happenings of the past. This is also the
same in preliterate societies: for example we have the "griots" of Western
Sudan; "Kwadwom" Singers of Asante; the "Arokin" of Oyo and many other
specially trained traditional historians. But the difference lies in
the fact that while the former relied on written evidence the latter,
due to the absence of writing, depended solely on oral evidences.

4
See "The Place of History in National Development" a lecture delivered
by Prof. Jide Osuntokun at a conference of History Teachers Association
of Nigerian Colleges of Education at Oyo state College of Education,
Oyo on Monday, 10/3/2002, p. 2.

13 For instance, see E.
H. Carr, What is History? (Hardmonsworths, Middlesex, Penguin
Books 1961); Lord Acton, "Inaugural Lecture on the study of History"
delivered at Cambridge, June 1985; Fritz Stern (ed): The Varieties
of history: from Voltaire to The Present. (London, Macmillan and
Co Ltd. 1970); Arthur Marwick (ed), The Nature of History. (London,
Macmillan, 1976); B. OlatunjiOloruntimehin, History and Society,
University of Ife inaugural lecture series, 1976; Bassey W. Andah
"In Search of Traditional African History," keynote address at the 28th
Annual Congress of the Historical Society of Nigeria at Ilorin, 2nd
March 1983.

14
Quoted from "The Debt we owe the past" a lecture delivered by Prof.
G. O. Olusanya at the 1st Eminent lecture series organized
by the students' Historical society of Nigeria, University of Ibadan
on 28th October 1998, pp. 2 -3.

19
See the contribution of O. B. C Nwolise "The Nigerian Military in Nation
Building" in Uma Eleazu (ed), Nigeria: The first 25 years, Ibadan
(Heinemann Educational Books Ltd. 1989), 53.

20 For details on the authenticity
or otherwise of the "Nigerian Nation" See Michael Crowder, The Story
of Nigeria (London: Faber and Faber, 1972); B. J. Dudley, Politics
and Crisis in Nigeria. (Ibadan: Ibadan University Press, 1973);
H. C. Bretton, Power and stability in Nigeria: The Politics of decolonization.
(New York: Nok Publishers, 1962); J. F. A. Ajayi, Milestones in Nigerian
History. (Ibadan: Longman, 1980); Obaro Ikime, In Search of Nigerians
changing patterns of inter-group relations in an evolving nation-state.
(Nsukka: Impact Publishers, 1985); Ojukwu Emeka, Because I am involved,
Ibadan. (Spectrum Books, 1989): Oshun Olawale, Clapping with
one hand: June 12 and the crisis of a State- nation. (London: Jose
Publishers,1999), 21; Dare Babarinsa, House of War: the story of
Awo's followers and The Collapse of the Second Republic. (Ibadan
and Lagos: Spectrum Books and Tell Communications, Ltd., 2003),12; The
Historia: A Journal of the Student's Historical Society of Ibadan,
University of Ibadan Chapter, 1999, 4; and John M. Mabaku et al, Ethnicity
and Governance in The Third World. (London: Ashgate Publishing,
2001), 2.

21
This intelligence report was widely reported by both foreign and local
media in Nigeria but the current writer obtained his fact from the United
States embassy in Nigeria official website: http://abuja.usembassy.gov
on June 22,2006.

Content in World History Connected is intended for personal, noncommercial use only. You may not reproduce, publish, distribute, transmit, participate in the transfer or sale of, modify, create derivative works from, display, or in any way exploit the World History Connected database in whole or in part without the written permission of the copyright holder.